14 The second one is maxim of Quality. The function of this maxim is to
make sure that the speaker has given the correct information to the hearer. To make conversations effective, there are two specific maxims under this super
maxim: 1 the speaker should not tell a lie 2 the speaker should not tell something without enough knowledge or lack of evidence.
The third one is maxim of Relevance. The same as its name, maxim of Relevance expects the speaker to be relevant. It is important because when the
hearer gets irrelevant answers the conversation would be failed. The last one is maxim of Manner. The general understanding of this
maxim is “being perspicuous”. Grice mentions clearly the various maxims include in the maxim of Manner: 1 avoid obscurity of expression, 2 avoid ambiguity, 3
be brief, and 4 be orderly.
c. Breaking Maxims Non-observance maxims
In daily conversations, there are times when speakers do not always follow the rules or fail to observe the maxims. According to Dornerus 2005, breaking
maxims is the process of failing to observe the maxims p.6. Breaking maxims is commonly known as non-observance maxims.
Grice 1989 firstly mentions that there are four categories of non- observance maxims; they are
Flouting, Violating, Opting Out, and Infringing. Different from Grice, according to Thomas 1995 there are five categories of
breaking maxims. The first four of the categories are the same as Grice’s, but Thomas adds a non-full observance a maxim called
Suspending.
15
1 Flouting Maxims
When someone is flouting a maxim, shehe does not intend to mislead the hearer but wants the hearer to see another meaning of the words uttered. The
meaning of the utterance is indirectly stated and the purpose is to communicate a message effectively Thomas 1995:65. In a dialogue, verbal humor is the
example of flouting the maxims. See the example below:
A: Chicago is in Kansas, isnt it? B: Yeah, and L.A. is in Idaho
In the example, B flouted maxim of Quantity by giving an unsatisfied answer. B let A to interpret by himself that the statement
Chicago is in Kansas as false as
L.A is in Idaho. From the situation, the researcher inferred that B was going to say that it was an idiotic question, so that B did not need to answer. B’s
answer expressed verbal humor which implied that the statement spoken by A was totally wrong.
2 Violating Maxims
According to Dornerus 2005, when the speaker intends to mislead the hearer, he or she violates the maxims. The result of violating maxims might not be
effective communication. The cases of violating maxims can be found in the
16 advertisements, parliamentary speeches, and arguments Dornerus, 2005; Alvaro,
2011. As an example, look at an advertisement found in a department store:
Figure 2.1 An advertisement in a department store
The note written in the ad was long and it would possibly mislead the customers. Moreover, the note, which was written in smaller fonts compared to
the digits of the discounts, would be very tricky. Considering the length of the note and the confusion results after reading the note, prove that the ad violated the
maxim of Manner. If the customers did not read the note carefully and understand about the agreement, they would be screwed.
According to linguists, the misleading of information can bring the humorous effects in the conversation Attardo, 1994; Lynch, 2002. Therefore, in
certain cases, violations of maxims can be used to create humor, but the sense of humor would sound amusing for the audiences who know the precise information.
The use of violating to create humor can be found in a conversation adopted from a film entitled Jack and Jill 2011 below:
A brother was so annoyed to discover that his sister was coming and wanted to stay at his house. In the other hand, the brother did not want to
hurt her feeling by rejecting her. He tried to give a recommendation to his sister.
Discount
50
+20
every purchase of red, white, and purple shoes and get
+30
discount for purple shoes on the second purchase.
17 Brother : Anyway, I was thinking that the house is gonna be very
crowded, I have kids, and the guesses are coming back..and bla bla bla so, this new hotel, Hilton, has just…
Sister : But I wanna stay with your kids. Why? You don’t want me to
stay with you?
Brother : No..no..no..of course I want you to stay with me. I just said it. Sister
: Ok. I’ll stay with you then. Although, I heard this hotel is so much fun.
Brother : sighed out loud
Sister : Why did you sigh so loud?
Brother : I just really really LOVE your shoes… Sister
: Thank you The brother violated the maxim of Relevance by misleading the sister with
a new topic. The audiences know the fact that he sighed so loud was because he was so annoyed at his sister and his failure at putting her away. It becomes funny,
because the audiences know the truth and the brother succeeded to mislead his sister to another topic.
3 Opting Out Maxims
When a speaker does not want to cooperate with the hearer or someone who is looking for information, it is called opting out the maxims Thomas, 1995.
In this case, the speaker gives less information that shehe already has. A doctor who tells about the condition of the patient is the example of opting out a maxim.
The doctor knows more than the information, but he only tells the good news to the patient to make the patient feels less worried. See the following example:
In a hospital, there is a man who becomes a victim of an accident. The man lost his right arm but he survives. The doctor is calling his wife and
telling what happened. Doctor
: Your husband is in the hospital, he got an accident. Wife
: Freaks out What? How could this happen? Tell me
18 everything How is he? Where is he?Is he alright? I want
to talk to my husband Doctor
: Calm down, he is alright. He is safe, we have done the best and he survives.
Wife :
relieved Thanks God… I’ll be there, Doctor, as soon as possible. Thank you for calling me.
What the doctor said to the man’s wife was true. The man was safe and survived, but the doctor did not tell about the man’s arm. The doctor said so
because the information he gave was enough and it made the situation calm down. If the doctor said the bad news in the same time, the conversation would not be
the same and made the wife more freaked out. This is the example of opting out maxim of Quantity.
4 Infringing Maxims
In this case, speaker is not deliberately breaking a maxim and shehe does not intend to break. The speaker does not know that shehe is breaking a maxim
Thomas, 1995. Usually, this case happens in a conversation between native speakers and non-native speakers, drunken menwomen, or strangers, where one
of them does not know where the conversation is going. In the example below, a native has a conversation with a foreigner who can only speak English a little:
Native : Do you know what time it is?
Foreigner : Yes, I do.
The foreigner probably did not understand the whole words that the native said, but he assumed that the question that begins with ‘Do’ would be best
answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Grammatically, his answer was correct, but it did not
19 make sense. He gave an unsatisfied answer. Unconsciously, he had been
infringing the maxim of Quantity.
5 Suspending Maxims
When the speaker does not want to say words or the speaker does not want to give specific information because it is not completely true or because they are
taboo, it is called suspending maxims. It relates to the cultural differences. The words or the issues that are considered taboo or not polite to say might be
different from one region to another. Thomas, 1995. Below is the example of suspending a maxim taken from the script of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:
MR. OLLIVANDER: I remember every wand Ive ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather
resides in your wand gave another feather. Just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for
this wand, when its brother gave you that scar.
HARRY : And who owned that wand?
MR. OLLIVANDER: We do not speak his name. The wand chooses the
wizard, Mr. Potter. It’s not always clear why. But, I think it is clear that we can expect great things from
you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things. Terrible, yes. But great.
The words in bold spoken by Mr.Ollivander are the example of suspending a maxim. According to the story, in magic world of Harry Potter, there was a
wicked wizard who was redoubtable, Voldemort. Other wizards were even afraid of mentioning his name. The wizards gave a nick name such as He-Who-Must-
Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who to avoid mentioning his name.
20
d. Conversational Implicature
